Synthetic resin container

ABSTRACT

A synthetic resin container including a mouth, a shoulder, a body and a bottom and forming a space for accommodating contents, in which the shoulder is provided with a pair of protruding ribs configured to be disposed opposite to each other on a front side and a rear side across a central axis line of the container and to be foldable when the shoulder is flattened; the pair of protruding ribs are each formed into a curved shape with central portions protruded toward the mouth side in a front view or a rear view; and both ends of one of the pair of protruding ribs are connected to both ends of another one of the pair of protruding rib, respectively, at intermediate positions of the shoulder.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to a synthetic resin container that has a mouth, a shoulder, a body and a bottom and is foldable.

REARGROUND

Synthetic resin containers, representatives of which are polypropylene (PP) bottles and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles, have been used as containers that contain a variety of contents such as beverages and toiletries including cosmetics, chemicals, detergents, shampoos or the like.

Such a container includes, for example, a cylindrical mouth, a shoulder continuous to the lower side of the mouth, a body continuous to the shoulder and a bottom that closes the lower end of the body, and can be formed by blow molding such as biaxial stretch blow molding in which a test tube shaped preform is used and extrusion blow molding in which a parison extruded into a tubular shape is used.

For example, Patent Literature 1 (PTL 1) discloses a blow molding method in which a cylindrical parison is placed in a mold for blow molding and a pressurized fluid is supplied into the parison to mold the parison into a container having a predetermined shape conforming to a cavity of the mold.

CITATION LIST Patent Literature

PTL 1: JP3993759 (B2)

SUMMARY Technical Problem

For example, as with the container disclosed in PTL 1, a container is proposed in which, after the contents are used up, the body of the container can be flattened and folded to reduce its volume when the container is discarded. When a container is configured to be foldable in the above described manner, it is possible to reduce not only the volume of the container when it is discarded but also the residual volume of the contents in the case where the container is used in particular for the contents with a high viscosity.

However, when a container molded through the above described blow molding is formed to be foldable, a shoulder tends to be formed relatively thick, and there is a difficulty in folding the shoulder.

It is therefore an object of the present disclosure to provide a synthetic resin container having a shoulder capable of being folded easily.

Solution to Problem

The disclosed synthetic resin container is a synthetic resin container configured to include a mouth, a shoulder, a body and a bottom and to form a space for accommodating contents, in which

-   -   the shoulder is provided with a pair of protruding ribs that are         disposed opposite to each other on the front side and the rear         side across a central axis line of the container and are         foldable when the shoulder is flattened;     -   the pair of protruding ribs are respectively formed into a         curved shape with a central portion projecting toward the mouth         side in a front view or a rear view; and     -   both ends of one of the pair of protruding ribs connect to both         ends of another one of protruding ribs, respectively, at         intermediate positions of the shoulder.

It is to be noted that, in the disclosed synthetic resin container, it is preferable that the body has a flat shape with a width larger than a thickness.

In the disclosed synthetic resin container, it is preferable that the central portion of each of the protruding ribs is adjacent to a base end portion of the mouth.

In the disclosed synthetic resin container, it is preferable that a pair of connecting portions where the both ends of one of the protruding ribs are connected with the both ends of the another one of the protruding ribs, respectively, are each provided with a triangular flat plane.

Advantageous Effect

According to the present disclosure, a synthetic resin container having a shoulder capable of being folded easily can be provided.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the accompanying drawings:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a synthetic resin container according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a front view of the synthetic resin container in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a side view of the synthetic resin container in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a plan view of the synthetic resin container in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a bottom view of the synthetic resin container in FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a side view illustrating the synthetic resin container in FIG. 1 being folded;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a synthetic resin container according to another embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 8 is a front view of the synthetic resin container in FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is a side view of the synthetic resin container in FIG. 7;

FIG. 10 is a plan view of the synthetic resin container in FIG. 7;

FIG. 11 is a bottom view of the synthetic resin container in FIG. 7; and

FIG. 12 is a front view illustrating the synthetic resin container in FIG. 7 being folded.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present disclosure will be described in more detail below with reference to the drawings.

A synthetic resin container 1 (hereinafter referred to also as a “container 1”) according to an embodiment of the present disclosure illustrated in FIGS. 1 to 5 has a tubular mouth 10, a shoulder 11 continuous to the lower end of the mouth 10 and expanding radially outward, a body 12 continuous to the outer peripheral edge of the shoulder 11 and extending downward, and a bottom 13 continuous to the lower end of the body 12. The shoulder 11 is continuous to the lower side of the mouth 10 through a bent portion or a curved portion, and is configured such that an angle thereof relative to a central axis line C of the container 1 is different from that of the mouth 10. The body 12 is continuous to the lower side of the shoulder 11 through the bent portion or the curved portion, and is configured such that an angle thereof relative to the central axis line C is different from that of the shoulder 11. Inside the container 1 is a space for accommodating contents. It is to be noted that FIG. 2 is a front view of the container 1 viewed from one side in the short axis direction of the flat body 12, and FIG. 3 is a side view of the container 1 viewed from one side in the long axis direction of the body 12.

The mouth 10 is formed into a cylindrical shape, and its outer periphery is provided with a male thread 10 a to which a cap or a dispensing plug is mounted. A neck ring 10 b is provided under the male thread 10 a, and the container 1 can be transferred by supporting the lower side of the neck ring 10 b with a transfer apparatus, for example. Further, a top opening 10 c of the mouth 10 is an outflow port for contents and can be closed by mounting a cap thereto.

The shoulder 11 connects the mouth 10 and the body 12, and has a diameter gradually expanding downward from the mouth 10 side to the body 12 side. It is to be noted that, in this example, although the shoulder 11 is formed from a substantially flat inclined surface in which a contour line is linear in the front view (see FIG. 2) and the side view (see FIG. 3), this is not restrictive, and may be formed into a dome shape swelling outward from the container 1, for example.

The shoulder 11 has a pair of protruding ribs 16 and 17 disposed opposite to each other on the front side and the rear side across the central axis line C. It is to be noted that, in this example, each central axis line of the mouth 10, the shoulder 11, the body 12 and the bottom 13 coincides with the central axis line C of the container 1. The protruding ribs 16 and 17 are formed such that they protrude from the outer surface of the shoulder 11 to the outside of the container, and recesses corresponding to the protruding ribs 16 and 17 are formed on the inner surface of the shoulder 11. Further, the protruding ribs 16 and 17 are each formed into a curved shape with central portions 16 a and 17 a each protruding toward the mouth 10 side (upper side). Both ends of one protruding rib 16 of the pair of protruding ribs 16 and 17 are connected to both ends of the other protruding rib 17, respectively, at each intermediate position of the shoulder 11. It is to be noted that the “intermediate position of the shoulder 11” refers to a position in the region between the end (upper end) on the mouth 10 side and the end (lower end) on the body 12 side of the shoulder 11. As illustrated in the perspective view of FIG. 1 and the side view of FIG. 3, connecting portions 18 connecting both ends of the protruding rib 16 and both ends of the protruding rib 17 are formed into a bent portion protruding downward in a side view.

Such a pair of protruding ribs 16 and 17 become a starting point for folding a wall surface of the shoulder 11 when the shoulder 11 is flattened with the body 12 in the thickness direction. That is, the shoulder 11 can be easily folded along the protruding ribs 16 and 17.

Respective central portions 16 a and 17 a of the pair of protruding ribs 16 and 17 are adjacent to the base end portion of the mouth 10. A portion of the shoulder 11 being adjacent to the base end portion of the mouth 10, that is, an upper end portion of the shoulder 11 tends to be formed thick and difficult to be deformed. However, the central portion 16 a of the protruding rib 16, which is a starting point of folding, is disposed on the upper end portion, which allows for easy deformation and prevents the shoulder 11 from being formed thick.

As illustrated in a plan view of FIG. 4, the body 12 has a flat shape with a width (a length of the body 12 in the long axis direction) larger than a thickness (a length of the body 12 in the short axis direction). It is to be noted that, in a lateral cross-section of the body 12 perpendicular to the central axis line C, the short axis direction is defined as a thickness direction and the long axis direction perpendicular to the short axis direction is defined as a width direction. It is to be noted that, as for the body 12, the shoulder 11 and the bottom 13, a part thereof may include a portion that is not flat (a portion where the thickness and the width are the same), or the entire portion thereof may not be flat (a portion where the thickness and the width are the same). In FIG. 4, T represents the maximum thickness and W represents the maximum width of the body 12.

The body 12 has a front wall 12 a and a rear wall 12 b opposite to each other in the thickness direction across the central axis line C. Each boundary between the front wall 12 a and the rear wall 12 b is provided with a longitudinal folding line portion 12 c that acts as a mountain crease when the body 12 is flattened. This enables the body 12 to be easily flattened in the thickness direction (short axis direction) such that the front wall 12 a and the rear wall 12 b are close to each other. It is to be noted that, in this example, each longitudinal folding line portion 11 a continuous to each longitudinal folding line portion 12 c is provided also to the shoulder 11, and the longitudinal folding line portion 11 a acts as a mountain crease. Further, the longitudinal folding line portion 11 a is connected to the end of the protruding ribs 16 and 17, which allows the body 12 and the shoulder 11 to be more easily flattened in the thickness direction. It is to be noted that, in this example, when the shoulder 11 and the body 12 are flattened in the thickness direction, the longitudinal folding line portion 12 c and the longitudinal folding line portion 11 a are displaced, as mountain creases, outward in the width direction. However, this is not restrictive, and the container 1 may be configured to be folded such that the longitudinal folding line portion 12 c and the longitudinal folding line portion 11 a are folded inward in the width direction. It is to be noted that, in this example, although the longitudinal folding line portion 12 c and the longitudinal folding line portion 11 a are formed into a protruding rib shape, they may be formed into a recessed groove.

The body 12 is provided with a lateral folding line portion 14 extending in the circumferential direction of the body 12. The lateral folding line portion 14 acts as a valley crease when the body 12 is flattened in the thickness direction, and can be a starting point for folding. It is to be noted that the lateral folding line portion 14 can act also as a mountain crease. It is to be noted that, in this example, although the lateral folding line portion 14 is formed into a recessed groove shape, it may be formed into a protruding rib shape.

In this example, the lateral folding line portion 14 is provided at the lower half portion (half portion on the bottom 13 side) of the body 12. The same lateral folding line portion 14 is provided to the front wall 12 a and the rear wall 12 b. A pair of lateral folding line portions 14 disposed opposite to each other in the thickness direction of the body 12 are connected to each other on the boundary between the front wall 12 a and the rear wall 12 b (longitudinal folding line portion 12 c). It is to be noted that the lateral folding line portion 14 is not an essential component. The lateral folding line portion 14 may be provided on the upper half portion of the body 12, or a plurality of lateral folding line portions 14 may be provided at intervals in the height direction of the container 1. Further, the lateral folding line portion 14 may be provided such that it extends only over a part in the circumferential direction of the body 12. The lateral folding line portion 14 may be provided to only either the front wall 12 a or the rear wall 12 b. It is to be noted that, in the side view illustrated in FIG. 3, the lateral folding line portion 14 forms a recessed bent portion in the thickness direction of the body 12.

The bottom 13 closes the lower end of the tubular body 12 and forms a flat grounding surface (bottom surface) that can ground in the erecting posture illustrated in FIGS. 1 to 3. As illustrated in FIG. 5, a recess 13 a dented inward of the container 1 is formed on the central portion of the bottom 13. In this example, the recess 13 a is a substantially hemispherical curved surface. Further, on the bottom 13, a pair of grooves 13 b extending in the width direction (long axis direction) are formed at the central position in the thickness direction. The grooves 13 b extend from the bottom 13 to the lower portion of the body 12. The grooves 13 b act as valley creases when the bottom 13 is folded. That is, the container 1 according to this example is configured such that the bottom 13 can be folded by folding a pair of grooves 13 b to the inside of the container 1. In that case, the folding line portions 15 provided at the boundary between the body 12 and the bottom 13 act as mountain creases. It is to be noted that, in this example, each folding line portion 15 is provided on the front side and the rear side of the container 1. It is to be noted that the recess 13 a, the grooves 13 b and the folding line portions 15 are not essential components, and the shape of the bottom 13 can be changed appropriately.

In this context, the container 1 can be formed by the blow molding such as the biaxial stretch blow molding, for example. More specifically, a preform can be molded into a container having a predetermined shape conforming to an inner surface of a cavity of a mold by placing a body of a bottomed tubular shaped (test tube shaped) preform heated by a heater or the like, for example, to a predetermined temperature at which stretchability is achieved into a cavity of the mold and by supplying, at a predetermined pressure, gas or liquid into the preform through a nozzle. A preform can be obtained by injection molding, extrusion blow molding, extrusion molding or the like by using thermoplastic synthetic resins such as polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) or the like as a raw material. The preform includes a bottomed tubular body and a mouth continuous to the body. The mouth is formed into a cylindrical shape, and the outer periphery thereof is integrally provided with a male thread. The body is formed into a test tube shape extending along the axis direction and having a circular cross-section, and is provided to the lower side of the mouth coaxially to and integrally with the mouth.

As described above, the container 1 according to this embodiment includes a pair of protruding ribs 16 and 17 disposed opposite to each other on the front side and the rear side of the shoulder 11 across the central axis line C. As illustrated in FIG. 6, when the shoulder 11 is flattened by sandwiching it between the front side and the rear side, a pair of protruding ribs 16 and 17 become a starting point for folding, and the shoulder 11 can be easily folded. Further, since the both ends of the pair of protruding ribs 16 and 17 are connected to the intermediate positions of the shoulder 11, respectively, the shoulder 11 can be easily folded up to the intermediate position of the shoulder 11. Therefore, according to the container 1 of this embodiment, the volume of the container 1 can be reduced for disposal, and in addition, when the container is used in particular for the contents having a high viscosity, the contents remaining in the intermediate position of the shoulder 11 can also be squeezed out. In this manner the residual volume of the contents can be reduced. The container 1 according to this embodiment is suitable for a refill container used for refilling contents to a container dedicated for discharging the contents.

It is to be noted that, in the container 1 according to this embodiment, a longitudinal folding line portion 11 a is provided at the lower side of each connecting portion 18 of the pair of protruding ribs 16 and 17, which further facilitates fold of the shoulder 11.

Further, in the container 1 according to this embodiment, the body 12 is formed into a flat shape having a width larger than a thickness, which allows for easy flattening of the body 12 and the shoulder 11 in the thickness direction. As a result, fold of the entire container 1 including the shoulder 11 is further facilitated. For the same reason, as with this embodiment, it is preferable that the shoulder 11 also has a flat shape like the body 12.

Further, in the container 1 according to this embodiment, respective central portions 16 a and 17 a of the protruding ribs 16 and 17 are adjacent to the base end portion of the mouth 10, and thus the shoulder 11 can be folded to near the base end portion of the mouth 10. Therefore, fold of the shoulder 11 can further improve the volume reduction effect and the residual volume reduction effect of contents.

Another embodiment of the present disclosure will be described with reference to FIGS. 7 to 12. It is to be noted that the parts having the same basic functions as those described above are assigned with the same reference signs in the drawing, and explanation thereof will be omitted.

In the container 2 illustrated in FIGS. 7 to 12, a triangular flat plane 21 is provided to each of a pair of connecting portions 18 that connect both ends of the protruding rib 16 and the both ends of the protruding rib 17, respectively. Each triangular flat plane 21 has two sides 21 b and 21 b that coincide with the protruding ribs 16 and 17, respectively, and an upper side 21 a that connects ends of a pair of the sides 21 b and 21 b. Further, the container 2 is provided with longitudinal protruding ribs 22 each extending from the shoulder 11 to the body 12. Each longitudinal protruding rib 22 is formed such that it protrudes from the outer surface of the shoulder 11 or the body 12 to the outside the container, and a recess corresponding to the longitudinal protruding rib 22 is formed in the inner surface of the shoulder 11 or the body 12. Each longitudinal protruding rib 22 can act as a mountain crease or a valley crease when the shoulder 11 and the body 12 are flattened to fold the container 2. Two longitudinal protruding ribs 22 are disposed opposite to each other on the front side and the rear side, respectively. Each upper end of four longitudinal protruding ribs 22 is connected to the upper side 21 a of the triangular flat plane 21. That is, respective upper ends of the four longitudinal protruding ribs 22 are configured to be connected to the protruding rib 16 or the protruding rib 17.

As illustrated in FIG. 12, in the container 2 according to this embodiment, the container 2 can be folded by flattening the shoulder 11 and the body 12 in the thickness direction (by sandwiching them between the front side and the rear side) while folding the longitudinal folding line portion 12 c and the longitudinal folding line portion 11 a to the inside of the container 2. In this case, the longitudinal folding line portion 12 c and the longitudinal folding line portion 11 a act as a valley crease and four longitudinal protruding ribs 22 act as a mountain crease. Further, the upper side 21 a of the triangular flat plane 21 acts as a mountain crease, the two sides 21 b other than the upper sides 21 a act as a valley crease, and as a result the flat plane 21 is folded to the inside of the container 2. In this case, the container 2 can be folded while decreasing the width thereof. It is to be noted that, in this example, although the surface of the flat plane 21 is located at the same level as the protruding ribs 16 and 17 (is configured to be the same height), the surface of the flat plane 21 may be higher or lower than that of the protruding ribs 16 and 17. Further, instead of the triangular flat plane 21, only a protruding rib corresponding to the upper side 21 a may be provided.

It is to be noted that, as illustrated in FIGS. 9 and 11, each of a pair of grooves 13 b formed in the bottom 13 has a substantially V-shape. Each groove 13 b having a substantially V-shape extends from the bottom 13 to the lower side of the body 12, and its top portion (bent portion) is located near the lower side of the body 12 (near each end in the width direction in the bottom diagram illustrated in FIG. 11). Each groove 13 b acts as a valley crease when the bottom 13 is folded while the longitudinal folding line portion 12 c is folded to the inside of the container 2.

It is to be noted that, as with the above described embodiment, the container 2 according to this embodiment can be folded by flattening the shoulder 11 and the body 12. That is, the container 2 can be folded such that the longitudinal folding line portion 12 c of the body 12 and the longitudinal folding line portion 11 a of the shoulder 11 are displaced to the outside of the container 2 in the width direction.

As described above, the shoulder 11 can be folded easily also in the container 2 according to this embodiment.

The above description are mere embodiments of the present disclosure, and various changes may be made in the scope of claim. For example, instead of the male thread 10 a of the mouth 10, a protrusion may be provided for undercut engagement with a cap or the like. In this case, a cap or the like may be plugged into the mouth 10. Further, in the container 1 according to this example, the shoulder 11, the body 12 and the bottom 13 are symmetrical in the thickness direction (symmetrical back and forth), and are symmetrical in the width direction (symmetrical right and left). However, this is not restrictive, and all or any one of the shoulder 11, the body 12 and the bottom 13 may be asymmetrical back and forth or asymmetrical right and left. Further, the bottom 13 may be configured such that it does not form a grounding surface that can ground when the container 1 is in an erecting posture, and it may be formed into a hemispherical curved surface that expands downward.

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST

1, 2 synthetic resin container

10 mouth

10 a male thread

10 b neck ring

10 c top opening

11 shoulder

11 a longitudinal folding line portion

12 body

12 a front face wall

12 b rear face wall

12 c longitudinal folding line portion

13 bottom

14 lateral folding line portion

15 folding line portion

16, 17 protruding rib

16 a, 17 a central portion

18 connecting portion

21 flat plane

21 a upper side

22 longitudinal protruding rib

C central axis line 

1. A synthetic resin container comprising a mouth, a shoulder, a body and a bottom and forming a space for accommodating contents, wherein, the shoulder is provided with a pair of protruding ribs configured to be disposed opposite to each other on a front side and a rear side across a central axis line of the container and to be foldable when the shoulder is flattened; each of the pair of protruding ribs is formed into a curved shape in which a central portion protrudes toward the mouth side in a front view or a rear view; and both ends of one of the pair of protruding ribs are connected to both ends of another one of the pair of protruding ribs, respectively, at intermediate positions of the shoulder.
 2. The synthetic resin container according to claim 1, wherein the body has a flat shape with a width larger than a thickness.
 3. The synthetic resin container according to claim 1, wherein respective central portions of the protruding ribs are adjacent to a base end portion of the mouth.
 4. The synthetic resin container according to claim 1, wherein a triangle flat plane is provided to each of a pair of connecting portions where the both ends of one of the protruding ribs are connected with the both ends of the another one of the protruding ribs, respectively.
 5. The synthetic resin container according to claim 2, wherein respective central portions of the protruding ribs are adjacent to a base end portion of the mouth.
 6. The synthetic resin container according to claim 2, wherein a triangle flat plane is provided to each of a pair of connecting portions where the both ends of one of the protruding ribs are connected with the both ends of the another one of the protruding ribs, respectively.
 7. The synthetic resin container according to claim 3, wherein a triangle flat plane is provided to each of a pair of connecting portions where the both ends of one of the protruding ribs are connected with the both ends of the another one of the protruding ribs, respectively.
 8. The synthetic resin container according to claim 5, wherein a triangle flat plane is provided to each of a pair of connecting portions where the both ends of one of the protruding ribs are connected with the both ends of the another one of the protruding ribs, respectively. 